London Eye is saved

The London Eye was saved today after an intervention by Ken Livingstone.

It follows a campaign by the Evening Standard to keep the giant wheel on its site beside the Thames.

The Mayor said he would seize control of the Eye by using a compulsory purchase order unless the row over its future was settled. The crisis came when the Eye's owners claimed it was faced with eviction after the landlord of the site, the South Bank Centre (SBC), dramatically increased the rent.

The Standard revealed a roll call of public figures and celebrities demanding that Britain's favourite tourist attraction be protected.

Mr Livingstone today called on SBC chairman Lord Hollick to step down and labelled him a "complete prat".

He was furious after the Standard revealed a daring bid by Paris to take advantage of the row and move the Eye to the French capital. The French boasted that they would use the wheel as the centrepiece of their bid for the 2012 Olympics.

But Mr Livingstone effectively ensured the Eye would stay when he said: "It may very well be, if matters can't be resolved soon, we would move very quickly to a compulsory purchase of the London Eye.

"Now, with the bid from France to take it over and park it in the middle of Paris for their Olympic bid, it just shows what a complete prat Lord Hollick has become and how damaging he is to Britain's interests, and he should go."

The Mayor said he would use his powers to ask the London Development Corporation to issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the land owned by the SBC. Such an order is a legal device to give public authorities control of strategic pieces of land for use in the wider public good.

The move would strip Lord Hollick and his government-funded quango of all powers over the land - including making demands to evict the Eye or increase its rent from £65,000 to £2.5 million a year.

The Mayor said the rent increase row had to stop. "I think this is an absolutely ridiculous rent demand," he said.

"It's a complete fiasco. The simple way forward in all of this is for Lord Hollick and his colleagues to behave responsibly. The simple reality is that were such a demand to be agreed, it would simply be passed on to tourists." In the event of a CPO being approved, it would give the Mayor the ability to impose a smaller rent demand on the Eye.

City Hall sources said it was hoped the Mayor's threat alone would be enough to force an end to the row. But they said there was no doubt he would be willing to impose a CPO if the SBC refused to back down.

The Mayor's move piles new pressure on Lord Hollick to back down immediately and means that even if he refused to lift the eviction threat, it can never take place.

Today Peter Truesdale, the Liberal-Democrat leader of Lambeth council - the borough in which the Eye stands - wrote to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell demanding the Labour peer be replaced immediately.

And the London Assembly passed a cross-party motion urging the South Bank Centre to withdraw its rent demand.

Angie Bray, a Tory Assembly member, said: "This London Eye row has now gone on for a week. It is damaging our Olympic bid and our tourist industry. We need some decent civic leadership and we need it now."

The row gathered pace after the astonishing bid by the French to grab the Eye. "It shouldn't be too hard to dismantle and then ship across the Channel," said a source close to the Paris Olympic bid.

"If the British don't want theirs, then we'll have it. It's a magnificent structure and it would seal our chances of winning the Games."

A London 2012 spokeswoman said: "It is interesting that Paris should want to cash in on giving a home to such an iconic London landmark.

"This is a matter for the London Eye and the South Bank Centre and we do not believe that the dispute-will have any bearing on the IOC decision in July." Meanwhile, Tony Blair today pledged to take the lead in pushing London's Olympic bid in the run-up to the decision in July.

The Prime Minister called in ministers and officials for talks at No 10. Bid chief Lord Coe, Ms Jowell and Mr Livingstone were brought together to plan the final stages of the campaign. Mr Blair will be underlining his personal commitment to the bid," said his spokesman.